Stop the violence against women

At Patheos, Owen Strachan wrote Why Abusive Men Repudiate True Manhood: Letter to an Abusive Husband:

Today, November 25, is I do not normally blog on Sundays, as faithful readers know. But this is a topic worth addressing, especially because I am on the record as being for manly leadership in home and church.

Let’s address this awful subject this way: if I could talk with a man who was abusing his headship of his home, what would I say? What follows is an attempt toward that end, and ultimately, toward the strengthening of Christian families. This is no mere hypothetical, of course. Abuse happens. Here you see how I as a complementarian, Christ-driven head of home and church would handle it.

At Moore to the Point, Russell Moore wrote The Church & Violence Against Women:

Male violence against women is a real problem in our culture, one the church must address. Our responsibility here is not simply at the level of social justice but at the level of ecclesical justice as well.

We must teach from our pulpits, our Sunday school classes, and our Vacation Bible Schools that women are to be cherished, honored, and protected by men. …

Church discipline against wife-beaters must be clear and consistent. We must stand with women against predatory men in all areas of abandonment, divorce, and neglect. We must train up men, through godly mentoring as well as through biblical instruction, who will know that the model of a husband is a man who crucifies his selfish materialism, his libidinal fantasies, and his wrathful temper tantrums in order to care lovingly for a wife. …

In the public arena, Christians as citizens should be the most insistent on legal protections for women. …

An abusive man is not an over-enthusiastic complementarian. He is not a complementarian at all. He is a pathetic aping perversion of Adamic leadership. He rejects male headship because he rejects his role as provider and protector.

As the culture grows more violent, more consumerist, more sexualized and more misogynistic, the answer is not a church more attenuated to the ambient culture …. Instead, the answer is a truly counter-cultural church, a church that calls men to account for leadership, a leadership that cherishes and protects women and girls.

At The Resurgence, Justin Holcomb wrote A hard look at violence against women:

The Bible teaches us that because of sin, suffering and violence entered the world. One expression of sin which is seen throughout Scripture and human history is the pervasive male domination of and violence against women. Here are some of the numerous ways that women around the world continue to experience violence and oppression.

After laying out in frank terms the issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, rape in warfare, female genital mutilation, and girl soldiers, he concludes:

Jesus cares for the oppressed

Male domination over and exploitation of women, in any form, should be resisted because it is evil. God calls his people to stand with the vulnerable and powerless and to resist those who use their power to oppress and harm others. While this is taught throughout the Bible, we see it most clearly in the ministry of Jesus, who gave special care to women and children.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he stood up in the synagogue at Nazareth and declared that these words of Isaiah were fulfilled in him:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:17

In making this declaration and in his ministry Jesus showed that bringing freedom for captives and relief to the poor and oppressed is at the very center of his mission. His ultimate act of liberation was his sinless life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection, which set his people free from slavery to sin and death. Yet his teaching and his example show us that the good news of Christ’s saving work should be accompanied by tangible love, service, and mercy toward our neighbors if the gospel message is to be recognized in its full power.

Our Get Involved page lists a number of organizations that can help you make a difference in fighting injustice and oppression that targets women. To find a ministry partner who can help you, click here.

A Cry For Justice is a blog that focuses solely on domestic violence in a Christian context. We have heaps of resources, scriptural discussion, mutual support for survivors. There is also a book called A Cry For Justice written by Jeff Crippen and Anna Wood, the founders of the blog. And a book about what the Bible teaches about divorce for domestic abuse, called Not Under Bondage.